Friday, August 26, 2011

A good deal on a round-trip ticket from Málaga city to Palma turned out to be 179€ ($240). You don't get nuttin' free on this 1 1/2 hour flight. At the Palma airport, a coke is 3€ ($4.50). Everything costs more in Mallorca.

City Hall and an olive tree nearby.

2 churches 4 blocks apart.

The Old Man And (AT) The Sea -- Ernest Hemingway. With a recent suntan and a cold caña (CAH-neeah, beer in a glass).

A typical food store aisle. Just like back home but more expensive.

Bicycles for rent. I couldn't find how much they rented for though (duh). I guess if you have to ask, you can't afford it LOL.

On the Road Again -- Willie Nelson. This time to Valldemossa (vahl-deh-MOH-sah, in the Catalá language, like Valle de Moises in Spanish, or Village of Moses in English). It's like the little towns in the Rocky Mountains. Kirk Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones have a home up here somewhere. If you speak Spanish, you MAY make out 1 out of every ten or twenty words in Catalan. Wicked! The Catalan people here and in Barcelona are known for their business acumen and have a reputation of being very well off financially.

M R Cruise ships.

Some of theM aRe private yachts with a staff of 12. Yikes!

Waiting for the airplane on the return flight, I bought a 3 euro coke. Damn, I feel so freakin' rich. I may vote Republican.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

I heard an old lady say: ¨This is nothing compared to Semana Santa¨¨. Then she added: ¨Nobody comes to these things anymore¨. Wasn't that Yoli Berra's line? I prefer my ¨It's so sunny here, you can get a suntan overnight¨.

It is 30 minutes long. The first four
minutes and the last two are introductions by Antonio Banderas. In between the
intro/outro are 5 songs. The program is as follows (starting at mm:ss):

00:00 Intro

04:00 Guajiras De La Tarántula

09:30 El Quince De
Agosto En Madrid

16:35 Rosa Acabó
Llorando

21:00 Carmela Y El
Minero

25:15 Alegría De
Paloma

A few notes. This dialect of Spanish mutes
the d’s and s’s. Madre = Ma’re; Todo = To’o. I especially like the third song,
Rose Ended Up Crying. It is from an operetta (written by Ruperto Chapí) called
El Rey Que Rubió. I not sure how to translate Rubió, maybe someone can help and
comment on this. Anyway, ¨Ay de mí¨ sounds like ¨Woe is me¨. Diana Navarro and
the musicians are fantastic. That little box (the drummer is sitting on) is
very popular in flamenco music and can be bought at most music stores here in
Andalucía, for 180€! I hope you enjoy the video. It is worth watching (And, don’t
ever bitch that I never take you anywhere! LOL)

And here’s my attempt at a flamenco song.
I’m not forking over 180 euros for a drummers box, so I’m just playing lead,
rhythm, and bass guitars. A gratis clapping track is available online but I
cannot get the S-ss-ss- pattern to sync to my already-done recording. It was
tough picking a name for the song. Here are some of the choices:

DAY TRIP TO MANILVA, ESTEPONA, AND
MARBELLA. Finally, made it down the coast. I chatted with the bus driver all the way.
It was great! After a while, you don’t hear his words or yours; you just hear
the idea being conveyed. Kool. Basically, everybody is weary of Chinese-made
goods.

Manilva is a nice town quite a ways up the
hill from Sabinillas, which is right on the coast. The latter is a perpetual
party; the former, a sleepy (cool) village. Both are very neat and clean. The
beach at Sabinillas is not as crowded as Málaga. Both towns are so remote that
a car is a Must Have. The bus service does exist; it is excellent with the
exception that it is not frequent.

Estepona (on the way back) is a little more
developed. A haven for retirees. Clean!

The Boardwalk

A Chiringuito.

A Playground.

And, Marbella (after that) has the
reputation of being a jet set location. I didn’t even get off the bus there. The
bus took route A7 (rarely lost sight of the sea) and it is evident that there
is a lot of money invested in apartments, businesses, and golf courses all
along the coast!

Friday, August 12, was also the start of
The Fair in Málaga. Great fireworks that went on forever. Now, instead of the
usual Tapas and Stuff, there will be Stuff and Tapas! No, just kidding. There
is a carnival just west of the airport. The carnival has rides, games, shows,
etc.

Monday, August 8, 2011

If you like noise, you’ll love Málaga. 1) Half
of the bums (who can’t feed themselves) have a dog. Our neighborhood bum’s dog
barks at anything and everything. 2) The customers at the Tapas Bar come to hear
the sound of their own voices and usually end up saying something stupid. It also
seems that they don’t really listen to what anyone else has to say. 3) Some
neighbors were going to the beach. Well first you have to go up and down the
block singing ¨Va-mos a la pla-ya, O, E, O, E, O, E¨ (We´re go-ing to the
beach, doo dah, doo dah).

I broke down and bought 2 electric table fans.
Now, I don´t open the doors and windows. God bless Thomas Edison (he killed two
birds (temperature and noise) with one stone (the fan)).

Wow! (you’ll need to hit the >(play)
button first, and later click the [x] to close the advertisement box). I saw
her on TV. She is so, very PROFESSIONAL. How does someone compose magic like
this? Must be the water/wine? in Málaga. I’ll have to try my hand at composing
flamenco. heehee

I’m going to Marbella this week, O, E, O, E,
O, E. Nah, just kidding about the doo dahs. But, I bought a Tarjeta Dorada
(Golden Card) for 5.05€. This gives us old (over 60 year old) farts a 40%
discount on the Renfe rail system. Kool. For now, the Renfe train only goes ¨south¨
(west, mostly) as far as Fuengirola, after that the Portillo bus system takes
over. However, Renfe trains service Granada and Sevilla, which are on my list
of cities to visit. Too bad I couldn´t take the Renfe to Mallorca (an island)
and it turns out the ferry system does not go there directly; so I’ll have to
forego that experience and fly there instead (from August 19th Friday
through the 26th Friday).

The lady next door is cooking again ...
Lord have mercy.

Finally stuck my toes in the Mediterranean
Sea. Ahhh. The water is very cold, and very salty, but clean. At waist high,
you can still make out your feet. The beaches here are very well kept. Some
beaches have lifeguards on duty. All beaches are free, but permanent palm-hut-style
post umbrellas(?) rent for 6€ a day, lounge chairs for 2€. Policemen (on
motorcycles) patrol the beach from the brick malecón (boardwalk? brickwalk?);
great idea that: protecting local and foreign sources of income to this
country. Beach vendors (yeah, ugh) sell beer and hats, which they are wearing
(yaow). It is hot, humid, and crowded. Once you get used to the cold water, the
heat and humidity problems disappear. Occassionally you will see a young lady laying
topless (t’aint no big deal, all men are topless too); bottoms are required
though, for all. Although I understand there is no law against nudity anywhere
in Spain, the police will make one waste his/her day at the police station if
one bares it all. Also available are chirinquitos (food stands), bars, toilets
(very clean!), and rinse-off stations (the water is potable, the drainage is
perfect). The sand is kept clean but there is a 10 yard wide (10 meter wide) band of
coin-sized smooth rocks starting at the water line (that has got to be there by
design, to lessen erosion?); I wish I had brought my beach shoes on this trip
instead of my sandals; my feet are tender after all the walking (BTW, I broke
the heel on the left tennis shoe and had to buy a new pair here). There is just
barely a small surf breaking, and no major undertows. Beaches are a mere 2 to 8
blocks away from the bus stops, so it is just a matter of deciding which beach
you want to visit. I feel safe here.

Brindo
Por Ti (I Drink A Toast To You)

No me dijo ni palabra, (He said not a word,)Me clavó su mirada en mi mirada. (He fixed his gaze in mine.)No me dijo ni quien era, (He didn’t even tell me who he was,)Ni de donde venía (Nor where he came from)Y sólo me amaba.([And] he just loved me)

Brindo por ti(I
Drink A Toast To You)A medias con la luna y el sol, (Halfway between the moon and the sun,)Y ojala te lleves de mí (And hope that you take from me)El líquido de mi corazón. (The liquid from my heart.)

Quiero
que bebas de mí (I want you to drink from me)Traguitos de mi vino interior.(Sips of my inner wine.)

Brindo por ti(I
Drink A Toast To You)A medias con la luna y el sol, (Halfway between the moon and the sun,)Y ojala te lleves de mí (And hope that you take from me)El líquido de mi corazón. (The liquid from my heart.)